$ETH broke through 3600 today on 7.18, the reasons for the breakthrough are as follows.
1. Institutional funds are entering at an accelerated pace
Large asset management institutions continue to increase their holdings of ETH, with the ETH holdings of on-chain whale addresses increasing by 12% since July; the inflow of ETH to trading platforms has grown by 35% week-over-week, indicating strong long-term allocation demand for ETH from institutions.
2. Improvement in Ethereum ecosystem fundamentals
Increased network activity: Total value locked (TVL) in DeFi has rebounded to $85 billion, a 25% increase from the June low; the daily trading volume in the NFT market has exceeded $120 million, reaching a new high for the year. Expectations for technical upgrades: After the Ethereum "Dencun" upgrade, Layer 2 transaction costs decreased by 70%, accelerating expansion at the application layer, and market optimism around the upcoming "Pectra" upgrade is increasing.
3. Strengthened expectations for spot ETF approval
The U.S. SEC's review of the Ethereum spot ETF has entered its final stage, with several institutions (such as BlackRock and Fidelity) submitting applications showing an approval probability of over 80%, leading to expectations of traditional funds entering the market, which drives ETH's valuation reconstruction.
4. Bitcoin's spillover effect
After BTC broke through $70,000, market risk appetite has rebounded, with the ETH/BTC exchange rate bouncing from 0.048 to 0.052, indicating a rotation of funds from BTC to ETH and other mainstream altcoins.
